Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Dominican Republic and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1978.
I was there at the first Visage show in London.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1965 to 1978.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tehran and Delhi.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Manchester kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976 at the first Soft Boys practice in a loft in Cambridge.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Dual Sessions to the grime kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Icehouse. All the underground hits.
All Grey Daturas tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Donny Hathaway record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '60s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Scratch Acid record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Basic Channel,
Drive Like Jehu,
The Gladiators,
Bad Manners,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Glenn Branca,
The Red Krayola,
The Slackers,
B.T. Express,
Liliput,
June of 44,
Pussy Galore,
DJ Style,
Slave,
Robert Hood,
Tom Boy,
The Cosmic Jokers,
Gregory Isaacs,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
Alice Coltrane,
Lindisfarne,
Bob Dylan,
Quantec,
Stiv Bators,
Radiohead,
The Five Americans,
The Men They Couldn't Hang,
Idris Muhammad,
Nation of Ulysses,
Ralphi Rosario,
Second Layer,
Grauzone,
The Birthday Party,
Kool Moe Dee,
Barry Ungar,
Yellowson,
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band,
Soul Sonic Force,
Scientists,
In Retrospect,
Dave Gahan,
Lower 48,
Dual Sessions,
Scrapy,
The Barracudas,
The Toasters,
Malaria!,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Pierre Henry,
Archie Shepp,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Barrington Levy,
The Cramps,
Johnny Clarke,
Alton Ellis,
Robert Wyatt,
June Days,
Pylon,
Swans,
Rakim, Rakim, Rakim, Rakim.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.